How to tell you about a day of wonder, when gaps between the hemispheres blurred and when four styles blended into one in defiance of a timescale that had seemed too compressed by half. This was not just a win against the tick of the clock, against the odds; this was a victory against, even, the flow of gossip.

This was meant to be a day of mutiny. Red-hot rumours of discontent in the House of Henry had been fuelled by e-mails to newspapers from a supposed source within the camp. If the Lions lost there would be a riot among players pushed beyond endurance on the training ground. They had been flogged and yet remained ill-prepared.

Well, roll on the revolution. If this was a team on the brink of revolt, goodness knows what they will play like when they are at ease in each other's company. And try telling the throng of supporters that turned the Gabba into a sea of red that this was a side on the brink of revolting surrender.

Ill-prepared? The Lions ripped into the Australian midfield with a brutal relish born of meticulous homework. The Irish centres Rob Henderson beat them up in the best possible taste and Brian O'Driscoll slid through them. The latter's individual try will take some surpassing, although the way Jason Robinson ran in his in the first three minutes of the encounter offered close competition.

Robinson, in accordance with his rugby league instincts, was supposed to abhor the touchline. Well, he was offered the outside channel by Chris Latham, and he took it, leaving the full-back sprawling, definitive confirmation that there ain't much wrong with his instincts for this union stuff.

Up front the forwards, who have been around a while longer, took the game directly at the much-vaunted back row of George Smith, Owen Finegan and Toutai Kefu. They put the squeeze on at the scrum, drove the line-out and thundered into the rucks. George Gregan was shadowed everywhere he went.

A mention should be made of one forward in particular. Richard Hill was fabulous as a last-minute stand-in on the openside for Neil Back. Almost alone - although that might be unfair on the efforts of his colleagues in the back row, Martin Corry and Scott Quinnell - he forced Australia to commit far more players to the breakdown than the world champions wanted. The Wallabies' attacks were blunted by the congestion at the ruck.

Or at least they were blunted for the first 50 minutes. In that time the game was won for the Lions, thanks to four tries, and the Wallabies were very nearly humiliated. But the Lions lost their iron discipline for the closing half-hour. Andre Watson penalised them time after time. They lost the ball and they lost two players, Martin Corry and Phil Vickery, to the sin bin for persistent offences on the floor. Australia mounted some sort of comeback. The margin was too large to overhaul, but the Lions leaked two tries. They did not finish as they had started.

On the other hand, if they had, they would probably have shattered a few world records. Apart from an opening salvo of punts back and forth the Lions seized the initiative with an unimaginable sense of control. For them to win, they had to offer something different from their other games. All eyes were on their options at the line-out and their use of the ball thereafter.

Well, they threw to Martin Johnson, which hardly constituted a shredding of the manual. And then they threw to Danny Grewcock. Hardly earth-shattering either. The two second rows, who were just awesome, obliged by winning the ball. The only difference was that, instead of catching and setting up the drives we all thought would form the core of the attacking thrusts, they gave the ball to Robert Howley off the top.

And how it worked. One such delivery by Grewcock meant that O'Driscoll had space to aim at a minute gap in the defence that could not be breached. So we believed. O'Driscoll flew through it. He slung a pass over his shoulder which Howley picked up on the half volley and two passes later Robinson was in a one-on-one situation with the full-back. The Lions were in the lead after two minutes and 48 seconds, with a try straight from set piece, scored by a wing who had not been expected to receive a pass.

Anything one Irish centre could do, so could the other. Henderson thundered through a gap, only to see his try-scoring pass intercepted by Joe Roff. One let-off. And there was another when a series of scrums five metres from the Wallabies line led only to a penalty against Vickery for coming in from the side. The prop was as forceful as any forward but the video-analysts may worry about his penalty count.

The sense of opportunities wasted seemed compounded when Andrew Walker kicked a penalty to reduce the gap. And even more so when Jonny Wilkinson of all people missed with two penalty attempts of his own.

But then came the purple patch. It began with another a try straight from set piece. This was the mark of Henry: to hit the Wallabies where they least expected to be vulnerable. This time it was unorthodox. First O'Driscoll hit the blindside, leaving Finegan floundering. And outside him was none other than Robinson who had come from left to right wing. He had left just enough space for the right wing proper Dafydd James to have room to go outside the last defender. Nothing wrong again with Robinson's instincts as he released James; nothing wrong with James' pace as he finished off the move.

The third try came from the kick-off at the start of the second half. Grewcock's catch eventually led, after a daring series of handling phases, to O'Driscoll cutting through the midfield again. He was confronted by a new full-back, Matt Burke, who had replaced Latham, but the result was the same - full-back left in a spin, Lion over for try.

Five minutes later it was all over. Henderson cut through - my, those Irish boys did some damage - before Quinnell dived over from a close-range ruck.

Game over. Except that it all changed almost immediately. The Wallabies might have struggled even more since they had by now lost Jeremy Paul with a serious knee injury and Stephen Larkham with a damaged elbow. But suddenly they had control of the game and the Lions were right off the boil.

One Wallaby try was disallowed on video evidence, Robinson had tackled Burke into touch, just. Nothing wrong with the wing's defence either. Then Toutai Kefu's effort was disallowed for crossing.

Near misses gave way to legitimate tries. Corry was sent to the bin for killing the ball and Australia ran in two tries while he was away. Walker gave a glimpse of his artistry as a runner for the first, Nathan Grey combined with Roff for the second.

The game was not in doubt, but the comeback will have given the Wallabies heart for Saturday's second Test. But, of course, by then the Lions will have revolted and all gone home. Not.

About this article

Australia 13-29 Lions

This article was published on
the Guardian website
at 08.00 EDT on Sunday 1 July 2001.
It was last modified at 08.00 EST on Saturday 22 December 2001.
It was first published at 08.00 EST on Saturday 22 December 2001.